New numbers: Record-breaking number of investments in Skåne during 2017

June 13, 2018

Skåne, the Swedish side of the Øresund region, centred around the urban hubs of Malmö, Lund and Helsingborg, has again proven to be an integral part of the Nordic startup scene.

Every year Skåne startups are setting a new record – and now new numbers from the Nordic Web give an indepth overview of 2017. During the year startups here have raised € 153.6 million in 2017, which is almost 3 times more than in 2014 (€ 53 million). Moreover, 7 ventures reached the $ 10 million (€ 8.4 million) level.

With overall 65 investments in 2017, Skåne has taken fourth place in Scandinavia by the number of investments. The first three are Stockholm (286 investments), Copenhagen (97 investments) and Helsinki (85 investments). The Øresund region, with both Copenhagen and Skåne, is also the strong second position in the Nordics, with 162 investments (roughly half of Stockholm, and almost double Helsinki).

The most active investors according to the report are Almi Invest, Lund University and Verdane Capital in 2017. Skåne has also received impressive investments from overseas: Microsoft Ventures, Khosla Ventures, LocalGlobe and Kima Ventures are some of the larger funds that have invested here.

Niklas Zennström, who is the founder of Atomico and has invested into Malmö startups on numerous occasions, has commented the statistics:

“I am witnessing both increased activity and increased ambition levels every time I visit the region. That’s one of the reasons why Atomico keeps a close eye on Skåne.”

Charlotta Falvin, who is the chairman of the non-profit organisation Malmö Startups, says:

“We see that more and more startups in the Malmö region grow into big players in a relatively short period of time. The fact that these companies choose to stay in the region show that it is actually possible to grow a world-class company in and from Malmö. You do not need to move to Silicon Valley or Stockholm – Malmö attracts both capital and competence.”